Friday, June 27

This morning, we headed out to our rock in Central Park. We spent some time reflecting on the week and our experiences and took some time to write in our journals. We wrote prayers and created prayer flags to bring back home as a reminder of our experiences.






We were very fortunate to have a private guided tour at the Jewish Heritage Museum. Our tour guide, Bronia Bradman, was a survivor of Auschwitz. The first part of the tour was spent learning about the history and customs of the Jewish faith. During the second half, Bronia shared her story of capture by the Nazis and subsequent two year long imprisonment in Auschwitz concentration camp. She was 14 when she escaped from the concentration camp. She told us about her family members and shared pictures. She and her brother were the only ones who survived from her seven member family. One of the most chilling moments was when she showed us her number on her arm. We continued to talk about her story long after we left the museum. She is someone I will never forget. Her story and willingness to share with us were both amazing.


For the afternoon, we headed to Coney Island. Several of us were brave enough to ride the infamous Cyclone one (or twice). Only two of us braved Top Spin. We had dinner at Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs, where they’re gearing up for the big hot dog eating contest on the Fourth of July. We finished the evening with a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game. The Cyclones won and there were great fireworks after the game. Exhausted, we boarded the train back to the Y.

Thursday, June 26

This morning, we had our daily morning prayer in Central Park. We then hopped on the subway and headed to the Lower East Side/Bowery area to visit the Tenement Museum. This partially restored tenement building housed thousands of immigrants during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We were able to see how these people lived and worked in their apartments.




The rain came while we were at the Tenement Museum, so we met Lyndon Harris at his church, St. John’s, and ate our brown bag lunches. Lyndon shared his stories and memories of 9/11 and the months following. He also told us about the Garden of Forgiveness. This group establishes gardens around the world that foster the nine stages of forgiveness. He shared pictures and stories from around the globe and talked about the future of the organization. Since we didn’t have an opportunity to work in the garden, Lyndon and his co-worker Carly gave us bookmarks with seeds in them. This way we can go home and start our own mini Garden of Forgiveness.

After spending time with Lyndon, we headed back to the Y. Some of us rested, swam and relaxed. Another group headed to the Met and another to MOMA.

For dinner, we headed to Shake Shack in Madison Square Park and had hamburgers, hotdogs and shakes. Afterwards we hopped on the subway and headed to South Street Seaport. We hung out and shopped around Pier 17. The NYC Waterfalls installation was turned on today, and we had a great view of the waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge.



We were pretty tired, so we headed back to the Y for Compline and some sleep.

Wednesday, June 25

This morning started with morning prayer in Central Park before heading to Christ and St. Stephen’s Church. This Upper West Side church has a brown bag lunch program that feeds almost 100 people 5 days a week. We volunteered by packing the lunches, sorting out a clothing donation, passing out meal tickets and serving dessert.









After our time at Christ and St. Stephen’s, we went to Central Park to eat our lunch and to play and walk. From Central Park, we split into 2 groups. 1 group headed the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other went to the Museum on Natural History.






At the Met, there was an exhibit on the fashion of superheroes. The costumes in the exhibit included the bat suit from “the Dark Knight” and the suit from “Iron Man.” This group also toured some of the permanent installations and the Jeff Koons exhibit on the Met’s rooftop garden. This group also spent some additional time hanging out in Central Park.




The second group headed to the Museum of Natural History and started their visit with a film in the planetarium about significant collisions in space. Then we tried to find a lot of the characters from the movie “Night at the Museum,” and found that the museum in the movie was very different from the real museum. We spent a lot of time similarities between the two, such as the Easter Island “Dumb Dumb” head, the dioramas, and the whale model in the marine life exhibit.




The second group subdivided: some went back to the Y to swim and relax, and several of us headed to the Museum of Modern Art. MOMA had a great exhibit on light that was lots of fun to photograph. We also enjoyed works by Pollock and Warhol.






We had dinner at John’s Pizzeria, near Times Square. After dinner, we did some souvenir shopping and then headed back to the Y for Compline and a good night’s sleep.

Tuesday, June 24

Today we explored and learned about the services that Covenant House (www.covenanthouse.com) provides. They help children and young adults from all walks of life that are runaways or are homeless. Covenant House helps these kids to get back on their feet and to learn about real life in a safe environment. It was really amazing. Helping others and letting others learn to help themselves is their objective.

After the tour and talk, we spent time in Covenant House’s clothing closet. We helped to sort and hang clothes. Each resident is given an allowance from the clothing closet. Joyce, the manager, takes great care to make sure that the clothes are age and situation appropriate.

After a brown bag lunch in Bryant Park and a little shopping in Grand Central Station, we went on a Circle Line Cruise. It took us all around the lower part of Manhattan Island. We got to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There were also great views of downtown New York from the water. We thought it was a really cool experience because we kept forgetting that we were actually on an island.













We had a delicious dinner at a little Italian restaurant, Le Zie, in Chelsea. The owner of Le Zie supported St. Paul’s and the rescue and recovery mission by donating thousands of meals.

After dinner, we went back to the Y and enjoyed some time hanging out at the pool.